Most houses here have two systems. Almost nobody plans for that.
Heating, cooling and ventilation across Carlsbad and the north county coast. Two-storey houses on this coast are usually built with one system per floor, and premises are often the same — two units, two ages, two sets of bills. Treating them as one thing is where the expensive mistakes start.
Each system gets measured on its own
Identified separately
Model and serial off each unit, the manufacture date read off the serial, what each one actually serves, and where the air handler and the condensate for each one runs. Two systems, two records, both written down.
Measured separately
Static pressure, airflow, refrigerant charge against the manufacturer’s target and temperature split — for each system. Combustion testing on anything that burns gas. The two sets of numbers are usually not similar, and the difference is the useful part.
Reported together
One document, both systems, with the condition of each stated plainly and any repair priced. If one of them has years left in it, that is what the report says, whatever the other one is doing.
Repair, service, replacement and ventilation
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Diagnosis and repair
No heat, no cooling, a system that runs constantly, a breaker that trips, water where it should not be. Diagnosed and priced before anything is fitted, and we say when a repair is not worth doing.
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Service and planned maintenance
Coils, filters, drains, electrical connections, charge and combustion, with the readings recorded so this year can be compared with last year. For premises, on a schedule with a named month.
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Replacement, sized properly
A load calculation per system before a size is quoted — not a match to what is already there, which is how an oversized unit gets replaced with another oversized unit for thirty years.
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Ductwork and airflow
Duct leakage and static pressure measured, attic runs inspected, returns counted. On a two-storey house this is very often the actual reason the upper floor is uncomfortable.
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Ventilation and air quality
Outside air where the building code requires it, exhaust that works, filtration chosen to fit the system rather than to fit a marketing claim. Coastal air is hard on equipment and we say what that means for the filter.
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Controls and zoning
Thermostats, sensors and zone dampers, set up so the two systems are not fighting each other. A surprising number of houses have both of theirs calling at once for different reasons.
Houses, condominiums and rentals
Single-family houses in the older inland tracts, newer two-storey builds, condominiums on the coast side and rental property managed from elsewhere. Upstairs-downstairs complaints, a system that has just failed, or a survey before you buy.
Where a house has two systems we quote them as two decisions, because they are two decisions and they very rarely need making in the same year.
Offices, suites, studios and retail
Small offices and professional suites, treatment rooms, studios and workshops, restaurants, and retail units in the plazas along the coast road. Rooftop packaged units, split systems and ductless, on service schedules that fit a lease.
Written surveys for landlords and tenants, so an argument about who pays for what starts from a document instead of from a memory.
One has failed. Should the other one go too?
It is the most common question we are asked in this town, and the answer that most often gets given — replace both, match them, do it once — is the most expensive one available. Sometimes it is genuinely right. Usually it is not.
We have written out how we think about it: what has actually happened crossed with what you are trying to achieve, with a straight verdict for each.
Asked most weeks
Our house has two systems. Do they have to be replaced together?
No, and in most cases they should not be. They were installed on the same day but they have not worked the same amount since — on a two-storey house here the upstairs system typically runs far harder, so ten years in they are not the same age in any sense that matters. Replace what has failed, measure the survivor, and if it holds its charge, moves the air it should and draws the right current, leave it alone. We have written the whole question out on the two systems page.
Upstairs is hot and downstairs is fine. Is the upstairs unit too small?
Sometimes, but far less often than you would think. The usual cause is the ductwork in the attic — flexible duct crushed against a truss, a run disconnected at a register boot, or not enough return air. Static pressure and airflow measured run by run will tell you which it is in an afternoon, and it costs a fraction of a system. A larger unit pushing against the same restriction gets you a louder house and a bigger bill.
How much difference does the salt air make to an outdoor unit?
It corrodes the aluminium fins and the copper of the coil, and it works on the cabinet, the fasteners and the electrical contacts — faster the closer you are to the water, and faster again on an exposed west-facing wall. That much is chemistry and you can see it on a coil with a torch. What we will not do is quote you a number of extra years for a coating or a brand, because the honest answer depends on your distance from the water, the orientation of the unit and how often it gets rinsed, and nobody can put a figure on that for your house from the street.
Can you just tell me the size of unit I need over the telephone?
No. A size comes from a room-by-room load calculation — the glass, the orientation, the insulation, the attic, the ductwork and what the building is actually used for. Matching the tonnage that is already installed is not a calculation, and it is how an oversized system gets replaced with another oversized system for thirty years. An oversized unit cools without removing humidity and cycles itself to an early death.
The system is old. Should I replace it before it fails?
Age on its own is not a reason. An old system that holds its charge, moves the air it should and passes its safety checks is an old system that works. What age does change is the arithmetic on an expensive repair, and there is one genuine forward-looking argument: which refrigerant it holds, because that changes what a future repair costs. That is a fact about the machine rather than a sales point, and we will tell you which one you have.
Which areas do you cover?
Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, Encinitas, Cardiff, Leucadia and Rancho Santa Fe.
Carlsbad and the north county coast
Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, Encinitas, Cardiff, Leucadia and Rancho Santa Fe. If you are just outside that, ask — whether we can come out depends on the week rather than on a boundary line.
(760) 581-9725, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.